"Our Take" - Bake Off Strategies

(Past Editions by: Date, Title, Topic)

 
About "Our Take" 
"Our Take" is a collection of daily vignettes covering a wide range of CRM topics. It's an attempt to add our own spin to the world of CRM. We will use the column to share our perspectives, opinions, epiphanies, web nuggets, or quite frankly anything that moves us. Get ready to expect the unexpected. And, don't be shy about sharing your thoughts.
 
 
8/22/06 - Bake Off Strategies
Today I want to share a story I heard last week about a particular company's strategy in selecting a solution for their contact center. The company had developed a set of requirements and asked vendors to respond with their ability to meet those requirements. Fairly typical so far.
 
Once the company had narrowed the list of potential vendors to two, they had a "bake off" - a chance for each vendor to install the system to demonstrate capabilities. Although bake offs don't exactly mirror production environments, much can be learned. However, there is an investment required by both sides so they should not be done lightly or without clearly defined objectives.
 
Now here is the interesting part. Near the end of the bake off, the company introduced "new requirements." These new requirements were not last minute epiphanies. Rather, they were planned to test how easily the solution could adapt to changing requirements. I hadn't heard of this strategy before but if you believe your operation will change over time, testing your system’s ability to change is very important. If you do a bake off, I recommend you seriously consider this strategy.
 
Gary Lemke, Publisher
(Share your thoughts)
 
8/23/06 - Bake Off Strategies - More Thoughts
Yesterday, I shared the strategy of introducing last minute changes in the bake off process to see how adaptable CRM and contact center solutions might be before you actually purchase them.
 
From my days on the vendor side of the fence, we would try anything possible to avoid a bake off. Why? We had to commit resources which added costs. It was an extra step in the evaluation process so it delayed decisions. And, of course, it posed the risk of exposing our flaws.
 
But these days, you have more leverage as more vendors are vying for your business. Just last week I talked to one vendor that was encouraging free trials with no conditions. Of course, a bake consumes your resources and takes your time too. Please take a moment to share your bake off story. I'll summarize a few of them in future editions of this column.
 
Gary Lemke, Publisher
(Share your thoughts)
 
8/24/06 - Should You Do a Bake Off?
We've been talking about bake off strategies - trialing two solutions before making a final decision - and a few readers have responded with a question on when is a bake-off worth doing. I'll start the discussion with a few thoughts but I encourage you to add your own.
 
When deciding whether or not to do a bake off, it is important to understand your costs. These include your resources in terms of systems, training time, IT support, etc. It's important to value the opportunity costs of people's time needed to evaluate solution alternatives.
 
Weighed against that investment is the value of what you will learn. Are you trying to prove features, user acceptance, integration with existing systems, data migration, system loading, etc.? It's all about return on investment. How do you decide when to do a bake off?
 
Gary Lemke, Publisher
(Share your thoughts)
 
8/25/06 - Bake Off Strategies
Yesterday I asked for contributions on reasons for doing a bake off. I've already received some great responses so I thought I would start to share a few of them with you.
 
One consultant wrote, "I recently ran a selection process where the client was virtually committed to going with a "household name" application. I persuaded them to look seriously at two competitors before pulling the trigger, including reviewing one stable but low visibility developer that no one had heard of. The outcome? The vote was twenty to zip in favor of the 'unknown' competitor."
 
Often the up and coming vendors make claims that they are better than the "safe bet" vendor. Often it is the lesser known vendor that is more willing to do the bake off. Perhaps for good reason. Do you have a David versus Goliath bake off story?
 
Gary Lemke, Publisher
(Share your thoughts)
 
8/28/06 - Bake Offs - More to Consider
Last week, I mentioned that a bake off - trialing two solutions before making a final decision - is not free. It has certain costs including staff, equipment and time. A few vendors chimed in that it can be costly for them too. And vendor costs ultimately end up back in the cost of the product.
 
Certain vendors may decide to "no bid" if the investment in a bake off is prohibitive given the overall price of the solution. One person wrote, "By making it more expensive for the vendor, you might well create a situation where you will not even see the best solution for you. This is especially true if the best solution is also a low cost solution."
 
Consider this scenario: "We have pulled out of bids even when we were on the short list when the customer sprung the bake-off requirement late in the process. The other two bidders participated and ultimately we won the business anyway." I'll talk about alternatives to full bake offs tomorrow.
 
Gary Lemke, Publisher
(Share your thoughts)
 
8/29/06 - Limited Bake Off
Many of you have contributed your thoughts about the costs associated with trialing two solutions before making a final decision. Concerns have been just about equal from vendors and evaluating organizations.
 
One reader suggested a limited version of the bake off. Called a conference room pilot, this set up creates an environment that is isolated from but architecturally identical to the production environment to prove that the new software/system is compatible with the existing infrastructure.
 
According to the contributor, the benefits of this conference room pilot include an opportunity to test management's commitment to commit necessary resources, identify and mitigate risks, and potentially motivate the vendor to be more aggressive in their pricing. Have you ever tried this approach?
 
Gary Lemke, Publisher
(Share your thoughts)
 
8/30/06 - Bake Offs - Living in a Dream World?
Are bake offs - trialing two solutions before making a final decision - worth the effort? Some readers don't think so. One summarized his perspective by saying, "Stay away from the bake off altogether."
 
Some feel that bake offs often fall short of reality and give people a warped sense of reality. Here are a few comments: "It’s conceptual, not real. Limited in scope and features…not tied to your legacy systems. It's a dream world."
 
So if bake offs don't always deliver the proof needed to make the right decision, what are some alternatives? In my mind, the most popular alternative is good references. So let's transition the conversation to the pros and cons of references? Please share your best reference strategies as well as your nightmares.
 
Gary Lemke, Publisher
(Share your thoughts)